Political analysts who introduced the polls said Blue and White had fallen due to a week of negative reports regarding probes of party leader Benny Gantz’s bankrupt company The Fifth Dimension.
By GIL HOFFMANA Likud party election campaign billboard depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen above a billboard depicting Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, in Petah Tikva, Israel(photo credit: NIR ELIAS / REUTERS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received good news from two polls on Sunday that indicated that his Likud party had passed up its rival Blue and White for the first time in this election campaign.Channel 12’s survey, conducted by pollster Mano Geva, predicted a Likud victory of 34 seats over 33 for Blue and White, which beat Likud by two seats, 35 to 33, in Geva’s last poll on February 19.The new Channel 12 poll predicted 13 seats for the Joint List, 10 for Labor-Gesher-Meretz, eight each for Shas and United Torah Judaism and seven each for Yamina and Yisrael Beytenu.A Kantar Institute poll taken for KAN 11 found that Likud is leading Blue and White 35 to 34. The poll gave the Joint List 14 seats, Labor-Gesher Meretz nine, Shas eight, UTJ and Yisrael Beytenu seven and Yamina six.Political analysts who introduced the polls said Blue and White had fallen due to a week of negative reports regarding probes of party leader Benny Gantz’s bankrupt company The Fifth Dimension and a controversial forged document when Blue and White MK Gabi Ashkenazi was IDF chief of staff.The announcement of a March 17 trial date for Netanyahu apparently did not harm the Likud in the polls.
